Hope the onions do better this year.

[b54red]

I just set out my onions yesterday and hope it isn't too late this year. Last year was a bust on all my onion varieties except white Bermudas. I set out a variety of yellows and reds and a good number of Bermudas. For the past three or four years the only one that has done good for me has been the Bermudas so if none of the others do anything this year I am going to just stick with them from now on. I started my onion seed in UltrSorb a DE available from Auto Zone and it made separating the seedlings so much easier than in the past when I used potting soil or seed starting mix. I just let it dry out for a day or so and then just held the clump of onion seedlings and shook them and the DE just fell off the roots leaving a nice full root structure intact. It saved me so much time and effort I'll never go back to regular seed starters for onion seed.

[jerryinfla]

Have you tried Texas Early Grano 502 Onions? They're a short day type. I start mine from seed in coir then transplant them in September - November. Not sure if you can grow them during winters where you live but they are the only onions I plant now. I pulled my first one last night but it wasn't much bigger than a golf ball. I expect we'll be in onions for the next few months with the really nice ones coming in a couple more weeks.

[Cole_Robbie]

Candy F1 is the variety my family grows. The drought got them last year, though.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by jerryinfla

Have you tried Texas Early Grano 502 Onions? They're a short day type. I start mine from seed in coir then transplant them in September - November. Not sure if you can grow them during winters where you live but they are the only onions I plant now. I pulled my first one last night but it wasn't much bigger than a golf ball. I expect we'll be in onions for the next few months with the really nice ones coming in a couple more weeks.

The Texas Granos usually do well but they are such poor keepers due to their high moisture content. They are great eating and very sweet. I no longer grow them because the Vidalias come in about the same time and are really cheap around here. I like the Bermudas because they will keep for a long time but they are a bit stronger but still on the sweet side when grown in my garden.

I grew the Candy F1 hybrid 3 years and it only made well one time. It also was not a very good keeper so it doesn't do much good if you get a lot of them because they start rotting before they can be eaten.

I guess I'll stick to the Bermuda since it is fairly sweet and a good fresh eating onion with the advantage of being a fairly good storage onion. I would dearly love to find a good red onion that did well in our climate but so far all the ones I have tried have been poor producers. The ones that have made a few I really liked but I just can't seem to get much production out of them. It is a lot of work planting onions and it is very frustrating when you only get a half dozen decent ones out of a large planting. Now I just plant a dozen or two of each variety other than Bermudas so I'm not as frustrated.

[whistech]

b54red, have you ever tried Red Creole onions? They are a short day onion and are supposed to store 6 to 7 months. I am growing them for the first time this year so I don't have any production numbers on them. I purchased the sets from Dixondale.

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by b54red

I grew the Candy F1 hybrid 3 years and it only made well one time. It also was not a very good keeper so it doesn't do much good if you get a lot of them because they start rotting before they can be eaten.

Gee I'm surprised to read this. I've grown Candy one maybe 2 years and it stored very well. IIRC they lasted well into February maybe longer. The differences in soil and climate may be a reason, I never give advice to someone in such a different locale from here because I don't know anything about conditions you face in your area. Now if you were around here that'd be a different matter.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by whistech

b54red, have you ever tried Red Creole onions? They are a short day onion and are supposed to store 6 to 7 months. I am growing them for the first time this year so I don't have any production numbers on them. I purchased the sets from Dixondale.

I don't think I have tried them before; but I have tried dozens of red onion varieties so I may have and not remembered. I have been gardening for nearly 40 years and have totally lost track of many of the varieties of all sorts I have used. That is one of the great things about this forum. I'll be reading along and see someone post on a variety of tomato or other plant and remember growing it many years ago. Sometimes fondly but sometimes not so fondly.

Let us know how the Creole onion works out for you.

[Stvrob]

Red. Why not order some red creole from Dixondale farms tomorrow and give them a try? I was just looking at the catalog and I hadn't realized they were a real short day storage onion.

Edit: oops. I guess that's exactly what whistech said above.